"Who do you say
that I am?" Jesus asked. Simon Peter answered, "You
are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." And Jesus
answered, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! ... You are
Peter(petros), and on this rock(petra)
I will build my church..." Jesus then began to speak of
the rough road ahead. And Peter took him aside and rebuked him... "Get
behind me, Satan!" Jesus replied. "You are a stumbling
block..."(Matthew 16:13-23)

Last week,
when the junior youth entered their Sunday School classroom, there was no
teacher. However, there was a sheet of instructions - one for each of them. At
the top were these words: "We are in a brief meeting. Weíll be back in
about five minutes. Please follow the instructions below. See you
shortly! Thanks! Your teachers." ... Now, item #1 of the 10 on the list of
things to do while they waited stated this: "Read only the odd
numbered instructions. Do not read any of the evens."

Perhaps
you can guess the result. Apparently, many of them failed to really read that
first instruction. The clincher came in the final two on the list, one of which
instructed them to write their name and "Satanís" on a piece of
paper, and the other had them writing their name and "Godís." I
think I heard that not many of them got it correct. We wonít ask who. If only
dealing with temptation were simply a matter of reading the instructions right.

Think back
to the primary story in the Bible, the very first tale of a garden, and God, and
Adam and Eve. The instructions God gave were pretty simple. Not 10 of them. Just
two. #1 - "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden." #2
- "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat."
Simple enough. It even gave a reason. Why not eat of that one tree? Well, "in
the day that you eat of it you shall die." (Genesis 2:16-17)
Makes
sense. Not difficult to understand. Easy. A lot of room to dance.

To dance?
Hmmm! I wonder, what would it be like to envision this story as if it were one
of the events in what many of us are paying a lot of attention to right now.

(two speakers at this point, one from the
pulpit, the other from the lecturn:)

1 - Welcome to the first Winter Olympics, folks, and to the very first
competition in these games

2 - Yes, welcome. And we do mean the first. The crowd here is ready for some
fine skating.

1 - Between the heavenly host and the rest of Creation, I donít know who is
filled with more anticipation.

2 - Indeed. Many were wondering if this event was going to be "menís
singles" or "couples."

1 - Which would you have preferred, Scott?

2 - I donít know. Iím pretty partial to the menís solo work, Tom. But
the addition of women makes this competition electric.

1
- It sure does. I canít wait to see how our first couple does.

2 - How big a slate of skaters have we got for this event, Tom?

1 - Letís me see (look at list), I believe we just have one couple.

2 - Well, then, it wonít be hard to guess who gets the gold.

1 - You never know though, Scott. One or two falls can take you right out of
competition.

2 - I guess it all comes down to the judgesí call. Who are the judges, Tom?

1 - Uh, thereís just One, Scott - the Lord God.

2 - Okay! Iíd say we wonít have any problems with impropriety on that
end.

1 - No sir, though there has been some talk about trouble on the coaching
staff.

2 - Yes, I heard thereís a chance a substitute may be brought in, a real
crafty fellow.

1 - Some would call him a slimy character.

2 - A real "snake in the grass."

1 - You got it. Will Adam and Eve listen to this guy, or stick with their
original coach?

2 - And who is their coach?

1 - That would be the Lord God.

2 - Heís the coach and the judge?

1 - Sounds unbeatable to me.

2 - I guess so. I think Iíd stick with him if I were this couple.

1 - Well, Scott, it looks like itís time for their program to begin.

2 - Yes, and they do look great in those outfits.

1 - Indeed, they seem to have not a care in the world.

2 - They skate so naturally, donít they?

1 - They certainly do.

2 - Itís marvelous to see a fresh team like this.

1 - Some would say theyíre a little wet behind the ears.

2 - Thereís a lot to be said for youth and naivete!

1
- What energy!

2 - Wow! Did you see that triple salchow? Perfectly in synch with each other!

1 - The crowd is going wild.

2 - If they keep this up, the gold is theirs!

1 - The gold is theirs, anyway, Scott.

2 - Details! ... Wow! What a performance this is! There is real chemistry
between these two.

1 - Itís like they are one person, perfectly in unison.

2 - Now comes the difficult part. They are separating at the middle of the
rink and skating in separate directions, while still keeping their timing
together.

1 - Can they do it? Itís never been done before.

2 - Of course itís never been done before, Tom. This is the first
competition ever!

1 - Right.

2 - Wait a minute, whatís happening on the other end of the rink?

1 - Eve looks like sheís talking with someone.

2 - I think itís the other coach, if Iím not mistaken.

1 - Switching mid-routine is not a good move.

2 - Now sheís holding something in her hand.

1 - What is it?

2 - I believe itís some kind of fruit.

1 - Thereís nothing about this in their program.

2 - Iíll say. This is a big change. Look, sheís taking a bite out of that
fruit as she returns to Adam.

1 - Now sheís handing the fruit to him, and heís eating it also.

2 - I donít know about this. Their most difficult jump is coming up.

1 - Will they make it?

2 - Weíll soon find out.

1 - There they go.

2 - Oh, no! They both fell!

1 - Ouch! That looks like it really hurt.

2 - But theyíre getting up and trying again.

1 - Thatís remarkable.

2 - Wow! They fell again.

1 - This is unprecedented.

2 - Of course it is! Theyíre not looking like medal contenders any more.

1 - There they go again. How many times can you fall in a program?

2 - I guess weíll see.

1 - Wait a minute, theyíve stopped their routine and are headed to the
edge.

2 - What are they doing?

1 - Is that what I think it is?

2 - Yes, theyíve grabbed some leaves and are covering themselves up.

1 - Why?

2 - I donít know. For some reason their faces are all red, like they are
embarrassed.

1 - Iíd be embarrassed by all those falls, too.

2 - I donít think thatís it, Tom.

1 - What, then?

2 - Theyíve lost that innocense they had at the beginning. They seem so ...
self-conscious.

1 - I believe youíre right, Scott. What are they doing now?

2 - Theyíve left the rink. It looks like they are trying to hide.

1 - The judge isnít going to like this.

2 - Iím wondering if theyíll ever be able to skate again.

1 - Maybe this is a good time to take a break for a word from our sponsor.

2 - Weíll be back for more about these shocking developments after this...

There was
a lot of room to "skate," to "dance" in that Bible story.
And yet, that first couple managed to fall flat on their faces. In fact, if you
read this book, that was a pretty common occurrence, from beginning to end.
Still is. As for me, I know Iíve done my share of falling flat on my face, as
Iíve tried to "skate" through life. We all have, and you know that Iím
not just talking about what we do in an ice rink.

It seems I
fall all the time. Letís be honest, folks, for this is a time for honesty.
Honest to God. Honest to ourselves. Honest with one another. "If we say
that we have no sin," the Bible says, "we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). We fall
a lot, donít we? That initial story in the Bible, of Adam and Eve, what is it
often called? The "Fall." It has to do with temptation, that within
all of us which pulls us away from God. Itís not merely a matter of paying
attention to Godís instructions, as important as that it. Sometimes those very
instructions, which were intended to help us to "skate," to
"dance" by faith; sometimes Godís commands are the very thing that
trips us up. Though they were intended for our good, there is something within
us that always pulls us away from the good. Call it "sin," not a
terribly popular word nowadays.

We are all
"sinners." "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
the Bible says (Romans 3:23). Isnít that the truth. The
story of Adam and Eve is our story, not just theirs. Add a few fig leaves here
and there and youíve got us. And we face into temptation every day. I stood
before the judge in traffic court on Friday, having given in to the temptation
to go a little faster than I should have (actually, more than just "a
little" faster - two points worth, to be exact). Whatís worse is that I
fell flat on my face with my son as a witness. When I was called before the
judge, I pled guilty. He asked, howís your record, to which I truthfully
answered, "clean." The truth in a technical sense, that is. I actually
had been before this same judge three years ago, receiving "probation
before judgment," thus wiping my record clean.

On Friday,
the judge then asked if I had received any citations in the last three years. I
suddenly felt very naked. Pass the fig leaves, please. The temptation I now
faced was whether or not to tell the truth. It may not have made a difference
one way or the other in the outcome, but Iím not a very good liar. Did I fall
flat on my face yet again by admitting the truth? Some would say yes. Paying the
hefty fine hurt, but my conscience didnít.

We all
face temptation every day. And if the truth be told, the occasions when we fall
may outweigh the times when we donít. This story of Adam and Eve is your story
and mine. Of course, we wouldnít be here if it werenít for another story.
There was another "skater," the real "Lord of the dance,"
who - if you will - earned the "gold." Now, we wonít bring back
"Scott" and "Tom" for an "Olympic" version of that
competition. You heard it earlier according to Matthew. Scripture itself
juxtaposes these two stories, the one about Adam and Eve and the one about
Jesus, side by side.

Itís
sort of like how, on television this past week, we saw Elena Berezhnaya and
Anton Sikharulidze on the left side of the screen, and Jamie Sale and David
Pelletier on the right, doing similar jumps in their routines. In the Bible we
have this fateful, beginning performance by the first couple almost side by side
with Jesus. In fact, he is called the second "Adam." Whereas the
"first" Adam royally messed up, thus paving the way for all sorts
painful falls for the "children of Adam" and Eve - that is, all of us;
the "second Adam" didnít. Though as scripture says, Jesus "was
tempted in every respect as we are," he didnít give into it (Hebrews
4:15-16). He didnít fall flat on his face.

Weíre
not just talking about his 40 days in the wilderness when he faced down the
devil, refusing to change coaches - if you will. The testing didnít stop after
that. In the garden of Gethsemane, before his arrest and trial, he was tempted
to allow "the cup to pass" from him, to avoid doing what was
right, what would lead to the salvation of the children of Adam and Eve (Matthew
26:36-46, Mark
14:32-42, Luke
22:40-46, see also Matthew
26:52-54 for a description of what his alternative might have been).
Instead, he chose the right way. "Not what I want but what you want,"
he prayed. The apostle Paul put it like this, "Just as one manís
trespass led to condemnation for all, so one manís act of righteousness leads
to justification and life for all" (Romans 5:18).

Now, in
dealing with temptation ourselves, as followers of Jesus we need to place our
daily struggle in the context of Christ Jesus. Otherwise, we are condemned to a
replay of the same old story. Face it, if "Scott" and "Tom"
were to do a play by play on our lives, theyíd be commenting on plenty of
"flat on the ice time." Am I right? However, in the context of what
Christ did for us - the wonder of his grace, his deep, deep love - when we fall,
as we will, we are given the courage and the ability to stand back up and keep
on keeping on.